There is a long-felt need in the art for molding methods and molds capable of manufacturing high-precision products (e.g., mechanical parts, electric parts, electronic parts, or the like). The liquid mixture used for molding can be a mixture of different liquid materials, i.e., a liquid mixture, and these liquid mixtures may include high-viscosity liquid materials.
However, when a molding method is performed using a mixture of high-viscosity liquid materials, an undesirable possibility exists that minute air bubbles will be trapped in the liquid mixture during the process of mixing and agitating the liquid materials, especially in case the liquid materials are mixed and agitated without any special care.
Further, an additional possibility exists that high-viscosity liquid materials will trap ambient air while being injected into a mold, and the trapped air will end up as air bubbles entrained in the molded material. Still further, when the molding is performed using high-viscosity liquid materials, the inner surface of a mold (that may have, e.g., very small gaps, undercuts, or the like) may not be completely filled and covered with the liquid mixture (i.e., the liquid mixture does not reach all portions of the entire inner surface of the mold), which may undesirably lead to surface imperfections on the final molded product.
It is possible to perform the degassing of the mixed material prior to injecting the mixed liquid material into the mold. However, when at least one of liquid components has a high viscosity, air bubbles can become undesirably entrained in the liquid mixture if the liquid mixture is degassed without any special care.
In any event, if air bubbles are contained in the liquid mixture in the mold or if the inner surface of the mold is not completely filled with the liquid mixture, then the final molded product will have defects. That is, the molded product will contain air bubbles (i.e., voids) within the interior of the final molded product or on the surface thereof.
For these reasons, there has been the need in the art to agitate the liquid mixture while effectively degassing the liquid mixture. One known technique comprises using a mixer to agitate and degas the liquid mixture by placing the liquid mixture in a container and then simultaneously rotating and orbiting the container under a vacuum (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H11-104404).